1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power seat control unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a power seat is designed to allow a user or a seat occupant to perform a frontward-rearward slide adjustment of the seat, an upward-downward displacement adjustment (tilt adjustment) of a front portion of the seat, an upward-downward displacement adjustment (lift adjustment) of a rear portion of the seat, and a frontward-rearward inclining adjustment (reclining adjustment) of a seat back, through the use of an actuator, such as an electric motor. There is also a particular type of power seat designed to allow a seat occupant to perform a frontward-rearward displacement adjustment of a lumber support of a seat back and an upward-downward displacement adjustment of a headrest, in addition to the above typical adjustments. The upward-downward displacement adjustment of the front portion of the seat, the upward-downward displacement adjustment of the rear portion of the seat, and an upward-downward displacement adjustment of the entirety of the seat may be referred to respectively as “front tilt adjustment”, “rear tilt adjustment” and “lift adjustment”, on a case-by-case basis.
In the above power seats, each of the adjustments is performed by manual operation of a switch. For example, a power seat disclosed in JP 2006-88718A is designed to allow a seat occupant to perform a reclining adjustment of a seat back, a frontward-rearward slide adjustment of the seat, and a height adjustment of the seat, by a manual operation of rotating a single manual operation dial, a manual operation of slidingly moving the dial in a frontward-rearward direction, and a manual operation of slidingly moving the dial in an upward-rearward direction, respectively.
In the power seat disclosed in JP 2006-88718A, an adjustment for displacing the seat upwardly while slidingly displacing the seat frontwardly, and an adjustment for displacing the seat downwardly while slidingly displacing the seat frontwardly can also be performed by a manual operation of slidingly moving the dial frontwardly and obliquely upwardly, and a manual operation of slidingly moving the dial frontwardly and obliquely downwardly, respectively. Further, an adjustment for displacing the seat upwardly while slidingly displacing the seat rearwardly, and an adjustment for displacing the seat downwardly while slidingly displacing the seat rearwardly, can be performed by a manual operation of slidingly moving the dial rearwardly and obliquely upwardly, and a manual operation of slidingly moving the dial rearwardly and obliquely downwardly, respectively.
JP 9-22642A discloses a power seat designed to allow a seat occupant to perform a frontward-rearward slide adjustment of the seat, a height adjustment of the seat, a front tilt adjustment of the seat, and a rear tilt adjustment of the seat, by a manual operation of slidingly moving a single dial in a frontward-rearward direction, a manual operation of slidingly moving the dial in an upward-downward direction, a manual operation of rotating the dial in a clockwise direction, and a manual operation of rotating the dial in a counterclockwise direction, respectively.
In cases where a power seat as disclosed in the above patent publications is used in a passenger car (vehicle), particularly in a family car (private vehicle), a seating position of each passenger or seat occupant is almost fixed. Thus, the slide, tilt and lift adjustments is performed only occasionally. In contrast, the reclining adjustment, such as an operation of largely inclining a seat back rearwardly to relax during a rest stop and then retuning the seat back to its original position, is performed relatively frequently.
In both the power seats disclosed in the above patent publications, each of the adjustments is performed by a corresponding one of the manual operations of rotating and/or slidingly moving the single dial. Thus, a user is likely to be confused in choosing an intended one of the manual operations, which causes a problem, for example, that the user erroneously performs the manual operation for the slide, tilt or lift adjustment, instead of the manual operation for the reclining adjustment.